So woke up to people running out of the hut on saturday morning, slightly disturbing until i looked outside to find we were floating above the clouds. The most spectacular sunrise was in motion, the pics just dont do the magical nature of it any justice. We chilled for a while as had quite an easy day ahead compared to the day before. Set off round about 11am back up the mountain we had come down the night before. Wasnt as bad as we thought and made it up there real quick. Had lunch at the top....peanut butter sandwiches and yes you guessed it, peanuts!! Walked the 1 and half hours to the next hut, not as hard as the day before but still tiring! Saw some incredible rock formations on the way caused by the eruptions from Ngaurohoe, it hasnt erupted since 1975 though thank goodness. got to the hut which was already busy, ran the last bit of the way so i could steal a bed from a group that were walking in front of us! hehe score!
Water was scarce as NZ are having a severe drought at the moment and drinking water is running out in the park so we were advised to go to the stream to wash etc. Awesome, 5 mins later we were in our bathers washing in a waterfall! Although i was nesh (Dads name for me!) and couldnt face going under it, Dain bein the crazy cat hopped right under...brrrrrr! Was amazing feeling to be clean!! it was a chilly night so didnt sleep too good. Cloudy the next morning at first so we took advantage and powered through. Hehe it became a race in the end, as we passed 1 group of people we decided we would set a challenge for ourselves and see how many groups we could overtake after setting off later than everryone. we managed 7 groups and did a 3 hour walk in 1hour 45. as the groups turned up at the hut after us, we got chatting to alot of people who we had passed. they werre laughing at us as they said it was like a flash of light as we raced passed them, hehehe. Had a free afternoon due to our speed so took off exploring up to a spring to fetch some fresh water. Jumped in a stream again on the way, i thought the other one was cold, this one was freezing, and i mean freezing...my legs went some after less than a minute and struggled to get out!! haha, had a really fun day climbing up rocks and generally messing around. Felt surprisingly energetic even on day three!!! My muscles havent ached apart from pain in my shoulders from the pack.
Spent the night playing cards with a Kiwi family out on their annual family trip. the two girls, 22 and 24 with their partners and the mum and dad. They were so so lovely and had the best giggle with them. They also had the largest selection of candy iv ever seen in my life....easter weekend means lots of sweet stuff! Slept ok as ther were lots of ppl in the hut that night which warmed it up (89 ppl in a hut for 22 and camping ground) there were ppl sleeping all over the shop.! Set off early for our last leg of the journey, our bodies were definitely getting tired at this stage as our speed was lagging. Still we were happy and smiling and soldiered on. Not much to see on the last bit apart from a waterfalll which dain decided he would take a shower under....some heavy dumping prevailed leaving Dains shoulders a lovely shade of red due to coldness! Wasnt far to the road in which after overtaking 4 more groups (just out of curiosity as to whether we were able to) we collapsed on the grass in Whakapapa and waited for a shuttle bus to take us back to Taupo and a well earned shower! pooo i stank! xxx
